The Gospel of Matthew
Abraham is so important to the bible that even the apostle Paul uses him as an illustration of salvation, 450 years before the covenant with Israel at Sinai. To Abraham was given the promisers of salvation to all the nations.In Genesis 12 God promises Abraham a son who will bring blessing to all the nations. To understand this promise we need to see the context of the bible up to this point. Man had been exiled from the garden of Eden and was now living under the judgement of God. Man and the creation had been cursed because they had brought sin into the world. Just before the promises are given to Abraham, the bible gives us a picture of man trying to reach heaven by building the tower of babel. We see God frustrates their plan and we see that man is lost and divided among themselves, not being able to understand each other.

It is in this context that the promises to Abraham are made. The promises to bless the nations through a son Abraham is the solution to the problem of sin, which brought on the human race death, curse and exile. Blessing is very much the opposite of curse. Blessing therefore is reversal of this curse. This is reinforced when God makes covenant with Israel. If they obey they will live but if they disobey they will suffer the hard labor of exile as a result of being cursed. In Deuteronomy 30 God promises to save them from curse and exile. This is described as God "restoring their fortune" Here in Abraham the fortunes of the world will be restored through this son of Abraham who will bless the nations. We find that In these parallels the story of Israel is the same as the story of Adam and Eve. They too are driven out of Gods land for disobedience to God. This is absolutely essential to understanding the work of the Christ and the solution to the problem of sin and curse. These are the building stones that lay the foundation of God's promised salvation.

Many other promises are made besides this promise. But for our purposes we will follow this promise. Then when Abraham and his wife are past childbearing God makes them a promise that they will be given a child. Sarah is barren and it is impossible humanly speaking to have a child. Abraham seeks to have a child by his servant. But God says the promise will not come through that natural child but through the child of promise. Abraaham believed the promise of God and it came to pass that what is impossible with man is possible with God. Isaac was born and God told Abraham that it was through Isaac that the promises would come. He would bless Ishmael and make him into a great nation, but to Isaac the promises of a land and a son who bless the nations was made. It became clear it was through this son that the promises of God would be brought about.

Now Isaac had a son Jacob also known as Israel after whom Israel is named. When he blessed his sons who were to be the 12 tribes of Israel. One promise stood out in Genesis 49. To Judah was promised that a King would come out of her and this King would have the scepter to rule and have the obedience of the nations. So from now all eyes were on the tribe of Judah for the son who would bring the solution to the problem of the nations sin and rebellion against God. But here we are told a king who will come out of Judah in Israel will also be the King of the nations. This line can be traced through many promises but for our purposes we will stay with Judah and the King who will come out from her. This is why Mathew tells us that there are 14 generations from Abraham to David. he does this in order to connect not just the bloodline but also the promises, that through Judah the nations future King would come.